# NewAir CC100 - Humidity Keeps Rising?



## dinokath (Oct 10, 2017)

Hi all,

I have a NewAir CC100 that I have had for just about two years now. It's been in the same location for the entire time and I tend to keep it pretty well stocked, about 160 or so cigars in all. I take the thin sheets of cedar from the tops of the boxes I get and use them to block out the front of the humidor's glass to prevent light from getting in there plus to give it a little extra wood inside since it is basically a plastic box. The room it is in stays pretty constant at 74-76F and average humidity in the room is around 55% or so. I rotate stock pretty regularly, about once every couple months or so, to get the ones on the bottom to the top and vice versa. I physically rearrange the cigars as well, moving the ones in the bottom of the tray to the top. In addition to the included drawer, I also have Spanish cedar trays to hold the inventory. The hole at the bottom of the humidor has been taped over, but that is a recent change in response to what I am about to type below. I recently purchased a 1/2lb of Heartfelt beads, but up until about a week ago I was using the Cigars International gel bead humidification jars with great success.

About a month ago I noticed a white fuzzy mold on a few cigars, which caused me to take a much closer look all around and noticed it was on the bottom of both shelves and the top drawer. All in all, had around 20 cigars slightly moldy. Cleaned them up, segregated them and had a smoking party the following couple weekends so no inventory loss, thank God, just had to smoke some of my Melanios a little quicker than I had intended. I regularly check humidity and not once did it get over 70% in the past. I have a Caliber 4R digital hygrometer as well as the included analog. Both read spot on each other and both get salt test calibrated at least once every 6 months. I have to adjust the analog sometimes after calibration but the Caliber 4R has yet to need adjustment. They both have been calibrated in the last two weeks.

I prefer my sticks to be around 65%RH and usually get it to stay right around there all the time if not just a tad higher around 68%, except here recently. When I noticed the mold, the RH was 71%, not high enough to cause the mold, I wouldn't think, and the temp stays a constant 69-70F.

After the mold incident, I watch even closer, daily really, and even picked up a Z-wave sensor that send me alerts when it gets too high or low. It has been calibrated as well using the salt test. Right now, at this very moment, I have a 1/2lb of Heartfelt 65%RH beads in the humidor, *NO cigars, NO trays, NO shelves, NO cedar covering the front*. It's essentially a big plastic box! It's been sitting for 24 hours with the 65% beads in there and is still reading 70%RH. I emailed Heartfelt about how to dry out the beads so they can absorb the most possible moisture. The reply was to use a hair dryer or bake them at a very low temp, no more than 175F and if they are opaque, they are dry. Dried them out, stuck them in there and still at 70%RH.

Any advice? Anyone here have some insight on why I cannot get the RH to drop? 1/2lb of those beads is WAY overkill for this size humidor. Is there some kind of trick to these types of coolers that I am missing?


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## Clark Stewart (Aug 27, 2017)

Is there any condensation on the back wall or anywhere? I can't imagine you'd have missed it. 


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## dinokath (Oct 10, 2017)

Clark Stewart said:


> Is there any condensation on the back wall or anywhere? I can't imagine you'd have missed it.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Nope! Not a drop. Everything feels dry to the touch. I was looking for that specifically!


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## ice_nyne (Apr 12, 2017)

I’ll get the dumb question out of the way: Have you been running the on-board fan? In theory this should actually *remove* humidity from your set up but let’s cover all bases. 


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## dinokath (Oct 10, 2017)

ice_nyne said:


> I'll get the dumb question out of the way: Have you been running the on-board fan? In theory this should actually *remove* humidity from your set up but let's cover all bases.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Yep, the circulation fan inside runs 24/7. I have also cleaned the filter at the back of the unit and the cooling fins are clean. The fan inside is amazingly completely free of any kind of dust particles. I was thinking about taking the whole thing apart and cleaning, just in case it was some kind of dust building up, but if the circulation fan is clean, and it runs all the time, it makes sense that the cooling components are clean as well.


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## Clark Stewart (Aug 27, 2017)

It's weird for sure. I would think the HF beads were not the problem but more likely the old system you were using. Those things tend to not regulate moisture swings well at all. They're usually one-way humidifiers. I had a giant Hydra Lg in my winedor and when it was running it put out a lot of moisture to combat the huge RH swings my compressor caused, but when it wasn't blowing it was essentially a giant water dish releasing into the box. Resulted in the same issue you had minus the mold. I finally gave up and pulled the unit, pulled the plug to the winedor and loaded it up with 320 gram Bovedas. Now it behaves much better. I use accurite hygros I got at Walmart. Calibrated and all. They are really awkward and larger than I like, but they display the last 24 hours of data as well as current readings. This is super helpful since the majority of my stash is at my office out of my wife's hair. It's helpful to come in and see that history to know if something I did works. I'm not touching it now! 

Maybe give it some more time and see what happens. Another day tops. If it's still climbing I'd pull the beads and open the dang door for a day or two to really dry out. Then try again. I can't recommend the Boveda enough even though most folks swear by either them or the HF. People don't realize you can recharge a Boveda when it gets crunchy by simply placing it in Tupperware with a bowl of distilled water. It will soak up the humidity and be good to go again. I know guys who have a constant rotation of them in this wet recharge storage. 


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## Kidvegas (Oct 17, 2016)

I know you’ve said you calibrate the hygros with the salt test and things are usually at the rh you prefer. Perhaps try testing them against a fresh 65% boveda. 

How long have the beads been in the wineador? They will take time to soak up extra humidity. Especially if your overstating them. Dry them out and put them back in dry. Then just add small amounts of DW mayde 1 sprits a day till you reach 65%


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## Clark Stewart (Aug 27, 2017)

Kidvegas said:


> I know you've said you calibrate the hygros with the salt test and things are usually at the rh you prefer. Perhaps try testing them against a fresh 65% boveda.
> 
> How long have the beads been in the wineador? They will take time to soak up extra humidity. Especially if your overstating them. Dry them out and put them back in dry. Then just add small amounts of DW mayde 1 sprits a day till you reach 65%
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


This is essentially the same way I did my kitty litter when starting out in cigars. You add little by little every day until it levels out.

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## dinokath (Oct 10, 2017)

Kidvegas said:


> I know you've said you calibrate the hygros with the salt test and things are usually at the rh you prefer. Perhaps try testing them against a fresh 65% boveda.
> 
> How long have the beads been in the wineador? They will take time to soak up extra humidity. Especially if your overstating them. Dry them out and put them back in dry. Then just add small amounts of DW mayde 1 sprits a day till you reach 65%
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Beads have been in for just 24 hours and I put them in there dried, no spritzing with DI water at all. There's nothing in there that SHOULD hold humidity. All of the cigars are out and there's no wood at all. All that is in there is 1/2lb of beads and a hygrometer.

I would also add that I left the door open, with nothing in there at all, for about 8 hours to 'dry out', stuck the beads in there and then closed it up. Then the humidity rose back up to 70% in roughly 8 hours. That's with NOTHING in there AND the 65% beads, which is why I am posting here now! :vs_mad:

VERY strange indeed...


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## Clark Stewart (Aug 27, 2017)

Beads are probably over saturated. From what I understand if more than half of them are clear and not opaque you don't have enough spare beads to hold moisture. Dry em out totally in the oven and then start over. Leave them in there and see what they read in a day or so. Then start putting in cigars. If the humidity drops then start spritzing distilled water in. Only a couple trigger pulls per dose. It's a marathon not a sprint. 


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## dinokath (Oct 10, 2017)

Clark Stewart said:


> Beads are probably over saturated. From what I understand if more than half of them are clear and not opaque you don't have enough spare beads to hold moisture. Dry em out totally in the oven and then start over. Leave them in there and see what they read in a day or so. Then start putting in cigars. If the humidity drops then start spritzing distilled water in. Only a couple trigger pulls per dose. It's a marathon not a sprint.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


The beads have already been dried and are totally opaque. That was the first thing I did!


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## Kidvegas (Oct 17, 2016)

Maybe try dropping the temp inside the wineador a tad lower say 63-65 degrees at the higher temps I believe the air can hold more moisture. I run mine at 64* and it stays right between 64-66%.


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## jc389 (Jun 24, 2017)

Have you actually put your beads in a container with the hygrometer to test them? You talk about drying them etc but what are the beads actually putting out as far as humidity? Also, I wouldn't completely test the salt calibration. I have honestly had good luck with it but I have always followed up with another test even a few months later to ensure that my calibration was correct.


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